loved in return
by CutieHeartless
Summary: sister story to Life's Ravine. My name is Demyx, and my memories are about me and Zexion...and how we met our fate in a very dark and cruel way over a grated bridge...


There was a boy. A very strange enchanted boy. They say he wondered very far, very far, over land and sea. A little shy, and sad of eye, but very wise was he. And then one day, one magic day he passed my way. While we spoke of many things, fools and kings, this he said to me: "_The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return_."

There was a boy who began to attend my school. A very strange boy, seemingly enchanted by every book he read. They say he had to travel very far, very far to reach our school. A little shy, sort of sad in his eyes, but he seemed wise for his age. His name was Zexion dark, and he was the new junior in my school.

With me being the kid who skipped a grade and one of the most popular guys in school, it was expected of me to snuff him off, ignore him or say things behind his back. But I was never one for following people's ideas of me, so I introduced myself and offered my hand, smiling when he took it and said hello. Zexion always seemed to entrance me, his slate hair always covering one of his beautiful indigo eyes. The way he spoke, expressed his ideas, held himself…there was no other person like him. I found myself thinking of him often, not even realizing that in the few months we've known each other my heart was becoming infatuated. Most people called it a crush. I didn't dare tell him, not sure how he would take it or if my feelings would be returned.

As I wondered the woods by our houses, heading to our meeting place, I began to wonder again what I would do. Lately I couldn't help but stare at him when he wasn't looking, taking in the way he moved and trying to memorize the emotion in those eyes as he wrote. I soon found myself at a ravine, trees and large boulders running along both sides. It was man-made by the town to channel the river that was more like a trickle today. There was a rope hanging from the old grate bridge that ran across, and we had often wondered what its purpose was.

A warm hand touched my shoulder and I turned to find the object of my troubles smiling up at me, such kind eyes that were cold to everyone else. An ugly black ring surrounded the visible of those eyes, and it made my stomach twist at how strongly it contrasted with his pale, creamy skin. "Zexion, what happened?" I dropped my bag, not caring about its contents, instead holding Zexion's thin face in my hands gently and looking closer at the injury.

Zexion put his hands over mine but made no move to pull them away, instead looking away from me, ashamed. "It was my own fault, Demyx."

"Bull!" I felt him pull back a fraction at the volume of my voice and reprimanded myself before speaking quieter. "Was it Seifer again?"

"It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention and spilt his soda in front of his dates." This time Zexion did pull my hands away, resting them at my sides as he bent down to retrieve my bag, which he opened and took out two sodas. "It doesn't hurt, so what is the problem?"

I clenched my fists, controlling my voice to not lash out again. "Zexion, he hit you." I hated when he did this. Took the blame for what other people did to him, brushing it off as if it was his mistake and all that happened was an apology. "Why do you let him get away with this?"

And then he looked up at me with those eyes, full of clouding and mixing emotions, a storm that wasn't sure which element in him would win and come out. He seemed defeated, exhausted, unsure as he set the drinks down on a nearby bolder, making sure they weren't going to fall over. "I don't enjoy being the most hated person at school, Demyx. Everyone is against me in one form or another and you have no idea how tiring that can be. For whatever reason they hate me, and if it makes them leave me alone most of the time, why not let them do what they want every now and then?"

I held his shoulders, making him face me as I bent down the few inches to his eye level. "I don't ever want to see you hurt again, Zexion. If that means I punch Seifer's lights out, so be it."

He stared at me so earnestly that I felt the back of my neck grow warm. "Why care so much?" he asked, and the heat quickly traveled to my ears.

I pulled away, rubbing at my neck as I examined a very nice looking tree a ways away. "Well, why wouldn't I? I care about you, more than anyone else I know, and I want to know you're safe."

Before I could regret in a way telling him my feelings, my shirt was pulled at gently; enough to get my attention and look back at the boy in front of me who motioned with his finger to come closer. As I leaned down, my mind not comprehending what was going on, he continued to pull my shirt until I was just about to touch noses with him. We stood there a moment or two, both just watching the other, Zexion's skin becoming a very light pink, my skin most likely tinted by the same color. His eyes were partially closed, his breath ghosting over me as he asked a question that I didn't hear. I leaned closer as he spoke my name in a whisper, cutting him off with my lips. My hands found their way back to his face, one cupping his jaw while the other brushed his hair away from his face. As I began to move our mouths together slowly, I felt his arms hold my shoulders from behind, pulling me ever gently closer.

As we pulled apart, neither of us saying a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his permanent marker pen, biting the cap off and taking the hand that held his hair up into his. As the hair fell into his face again, he began writing something on the palm of my hand, the light pressure tickling at some parts. I watched as he wrote, not being able to tell what it said but very glad that he was writing it on me. Once he was done, he put the marker back and gave me a moment's notice before flinging his arms around my neck, kissing me just a little bit harder. I held him close, enjoying the feel of his lips and how my arms could almost wrap twice around him.

A loud gun shot rang through the trees making us both jump and pull apart, looking in the direction it came from to find Seifer with a smoking hand gun pointed at us. My blood ran cold and I instantly put myself between the black weapon and Zexion, trying to understand what was going on. "Seifer,"

"Shut up, faggot." He snapped, his arm that held the gun jerking before stilling again. "What, you thought I wouldn't find out? How could I not find out about you and that pathetic excuse for a guy?"

I held my hands up to show I wasn't up to anything and tried to talk to him, feeling Zexion hold my shirt tightly from behind. "Seifer, what are you doing here? Your house is on the other side of town."

"I came because I'm in charge of the town now, and I'm cleaning it of all the people who make me sick." Seifer brought the gun to his head and used it to rub his temple as he smiled, tossing his other hand on his hip. "It's easy, really. Tormenting them until they finally just stop coming to school, either moving away or killing themselves."

Zexion moved partially out from behind me to glare at the blonde before us. "You're a monster. Hurting people like that, pushing them to the edge until they can't take it anymore. You need to be stopped."

I held my arms out as the look in Seifer's eyes grew dark, dangerous. "Seifer, what are you doing with the gun?" I made sure to hide Zexion best as possible, though I was skinny too, so I didn't offer much protection.

"You see," he pointed the gun directly at my face, an evil smirk pulling at his mouth. "To get rid of filth like you, I need to take it up a notch. Meaning I may need to get my hands dirty."

I felt all warmth leave me and the air at what he was planning to do. "Seifer, you can't just kill us, it's different than suicide, people can trace it to you."

Seifer's smirk just became more twisted as he pulled a second gun from his back pocket, tossing it over to me, the thing landing at my feet. "Oh, I'm not the one who's going to do the killing here. You are going to kill the faggot, then turn on yourself."

"You're crazy!" Zexion snapped.

Seifer turned the gun on him, his amusement dying and his eyes becoming even darker. "Be glad I'm merciful, freak. I could kill you myself if you want. It won't be as quick as if Demyx here does it."

I bent down quickly and grabbed the gun, aiming it at Seifer. "Run, Zexion!" I felt him leave and heard the pounding of footsteps as he began to cross the grate bridge. I had only seconds to react as he pulled the trigger, it grazing my ear and wizzing past me. I thought I had the best luck at that moment, until I heard the cry from behind me. Spinning around I watched as Zexion began to lose his balance, blood beginning to soak his shoulder. "No!" I dropped the gun, running for Zexion as he lost his balance, leaning too hardly on the rusted rail. My breath left me as I reached him, grabbing his hand as he fell, my body crashing onto the grates as Zexion swung from the force.

"Zexion!" I tightened my hold on his wrist, trying to pull him up back onto the bridge. "Zexion!" I tried again to pull him up, but it wasn't working, I just couldn't seem to get enough strength.

"Try to grab the rope, Zexion!" I shouted, seeing the dangling rope in the corner of my eye. He reached for it as best he could, but was too far away, his fingers too many feet short. I thought of swinging him over, but he would never reach it. Suddenly his hand began to slip and we both tightened our holds on one another.

He just looked up at me, his eyes unreadable as he gulped in air trying to breath. "Demyx…"

"Don't you let go!" I shook my head, forbidding those thoughts that began to reflect so clearly in indigo eyes. "Don't you dare let go! Do you hear me?"

One tear rolled down his cheek as he stared up at me, the storm suddenly clearing, fear and sadness becoming the winners. "I love you, Demyx. Remember that, okay?"

His hand began to slip and I whimpered, struggling so desperately to hold on tighter. If I wasn't using my other hand to hold me up I would grab him, but as it was I was trying to keep us both from falling. My grip slipped again and I was now holding onto his fingers. "No! No! Zexion, please, no." I tried so hard, but it wasn't enough. His fingers slipped out of mine, his body falling down to the jagged rocks below us creating a shallow thud as he hit them. His blood was free to seep away from his head and back, and I could see his face clearly, his eyes dull and his face lax.

As I stared in horror, my hand that still reached for him caught my attention. On my palm, in black permanent marker, was what Zexion had written earlier. The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.

I read and reread it over again as my eyes blurred with unshed tears. Footsteps came beside me, something cold and hard being pressed roughly to the back of my head. I didn't care. I just laid there, reading my hand until it all suddenly went black, something loud and hot coming from behind me.

…people had heard the three gun shots and had come running into the woods, a young mother of three who lives next to me finding my body on the bridge, most of my head blown off. My face was still there, though, open eyes looking at both my hand and Zexion below me. She screamed at all the gore, and I can't really blame her. We were given to our parents and given proper funerals, a lot of kids coming to the shared service since they knew what Seifer's plan was. There was hardly a kid there who didn't lose a friend, brother or sister thanks to Seifer. He was never caught, by the way. He made a clean escape and no one expects to see him in this area again.

As for me, people say those who die traumatically have a hard time crossing over. I sit on the ground at my gravestone and watch as my family walks away, my mother still unable to stop crying after so many months. It's quiet here, peaceful, and there are plenty of other people who haven't crossed over that I can talk to. But the one person I really want to see…he's not stuck here like me. He's up there, waiting for when I'm ready to go up too. He came to visit once, you know. I swear I've never seen him so at ease before. He sat with me for a while and we talked, enjoying each other's company while we still had it. "I can't stay here with you Demyx, I have to go back up." I felt my non beating heart sink at those words. He seemed to see that because he smiled knowingly. "When you feel like you're ready, come up and I'll show you around." We kissed after that, much like we had the first time. He left soon after, waving bye as I watched him leave.

That was about three months ago, ironically on October 31st. It's December 25th now, and a light snow is falling on the already white ground. It seems so much quieter when it snows. It's like everything is still, watching as the white flakes fall, fearing of disrupting it all. Warm hands circled around my waist and I turned to see the person I've wanted for so long.

Zexion was dressed in white, as usual, but with a Santa hat on, the pompom covering his eye along with his hair. He smiled at me and hugged me tightly. "Merry Christmas, Demyx."

I held him so tightly I would have choked him to death. "Merry Christmas, Zexion."

He looked up at me, expectation in those eyes I love so much. "Are you ready?"

My thoughts drifted to my mom, who was the real reason why I staid. She took it so hard; she would visit my grave every day. I wanted to keep an eye on her, make sure she was going to be okay. Her visits have dwindled now to once or twice a month, which I can live with. Besides, she has to get ready for my baby sister who is due near my birthday in the spring. Taking the hat and plopping it on my head I grinned down at the slate haired angel (I kid you not), pulling him just a little closer. "I am."

And I was.


End file.
